240 LABRADOR 



1894. Indian Harbour hospital was opened for the 

 summer, and for the first time Battle Harbour hospital 

 was kept open in winter. The doctor, with dogs and 

 sledges, travelled eighteen hundred miles of coast during 

 the winter. 



1895. The sailing hospital was replaced by the steamer 

 Sir Donald, the gift of Sir Donald A. Smith, who had lived 

 many years in Labrador. Nineteen hundred sick folk 

 received treatment. Dr. Roddick, of Montreal, presented 

 the sailing boat Urelia McKinnon to the Mission. 



1896. A small cooperative store was started at Red 

 Bay in the Strait of Belle Isle, to help the settlers to escape 

 the " truck system" of trade, and the consequent loss of 

 independence and thrift. Four other cooperative stores 

 have since been opened, with very beneficial results to the 

 poorest. The Sir Donald was carried out from her harbour 

 by the winter ice, and found far at sea, still frozen in, by 

 the seal hunters. She had to be sold. 



1897. The steam-launch Julia Sheridan, given by a 

 Toronto lady, replaced the Sir Donald. A large Mission 

 hall was attached to Indian Harbour hospital for the use 

 of the fishermen. Two thousand patients were treated. 

 Some orphan children were taken to America. The doctors 

 were appointed magistrates for Labrador, which enabled 

 them to help in several cases of right against might. 



1899. Largely through the munificence of the Mission's 

 staunch friend, Lord Strathcona, the Canadian High 

 Commissioner, the steel hospital steamer Strathcona was 

 built at Dartmouth, England, and fitted with every avail- 

 able modern appliance. At the request of the settlers, 

 a doctor wintered in north Newfoundland and travelled 



